Horace G. Smithy Lecture

The Horace G. Smithy Lectureship honors Dr. Smithy, a pioneer in the early days of cardiac surgery.  

  
October 4 Smithy Lecture:
Invited Speaker - Richard Ohye, M.D. 

Associate Chair of the Department of Cardiac Surgery
Head of the Section of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery
Co-Director of the University of Michigan Children’s Hospital Congenital Heart Center

"3D-Printed, Patient-Specific, Bioresorbable Airway Splints for Pediatric Tracheobronchomalacia"

 

About Dr. Ohye

Richard Ohye, M.D. is the Associate Chair of the Department of Cardiac Surgery, the Head of the Section of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery, and the co-Director of the University of Michigan C. S. Mott Children's Hospital Congenital Heart Center.

Dr. Ohye's major clinical interests are in complex congenital heart defect repair. His research interests are in clinical and translational research, and he is the Co-Founder of the Michigan Congenital Heart Outcomes Research and Discovery (M-CHORD) program. Dr. Ohye is the study chair of a 15-center randomized trial comparing techniques for the Norwood operation for hypoplastic left heart syndrome, the first multi-institutional prospective trial ever performed in congenital heart surgery.

He has a strong interest in innovative device development for pediatric patients with cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and is currently involved with the development of several novel devices.

 

Recent Past Speakers (Note: 2018 lecture was cancelled due to hurricane)

2021	Yolonda Colson, M.D., Ph.D.	The Surgeon and Engineer Meet at Dinner
2019	Thomas Krummel, M.D.	Best Way to Predict the Future…is to INVENT it!
2018	W. Randolph Chitwood, Jr. M.D.	Innovators and Innovation in Cardiac Surgery: Past, Present, and Future
2017	David R. Jones, M.D.	Current Management of Stage III(N2) NSCLC
2015	Vaughn A. Starnes, M.D.	Opening Doors: A Surgeon’s Journey Over Thresholds
2014	Martin Elliott, M.D.	10 Commandments for Safety in the Operating Room
2013	Shafique Keshavjee, M.D.	The Future of Transplantation: Personalized Medicine for the Organ
2012	Lawrence H. Cohn, M.D.	How to be a Safe and Effective Surgeon
2011	Leonard Lee Bailey, M.D.	Evolution of Infant Heart Transplantation
2010	G. Alexander Patterson, M.D.	Tribal Leadership in Surgery

About

On January 30, 1948, Dr. Smithy was a young Assistant Professor of Surgery at MUSC who made medical history by successfully removing scar tissue from a heart valve of a young, incapacitated girl who had been given but a brief time to live.  

The technique employed by the 34-year old Horace G. Smithy was based upon two years of exhaustive research experimentation. Dr. Smithy’s research included the design of a new instrument, known as a valvulotome, to cut scar tissue blocking heart valves of rheumatic fever victims.  He subsequently operated upon six additional patients, four of whom survived.  

Tragically, Dr. Smithy himself had valvular heart disease as a result of rheumatic fever during childhood, and his condition began rapidly deteriorating and Dr. Smithy died on October 28, 1948. However, from his pioneering efforts, enormous progress has been made. Today, reliable prosthetic heart valves are widely available and surgery for valvular heart disease is standardized and carries a very low risk in most individuals.